Chinese sportswear group Li Ning Co Ltd said on Thursday it planned to sell HK$10.5 billion ($1.35 billion) worth of new shares to raise capital for international expansion and for investment in newly launched product categories.

The Beijing-based company plans to sell 120 million new shares, or 4.59 percent of the enlarged share capital, to its major shareholder Viva China Holdings Ltd, it said in a filing to the Hong Kong bourse.

The new shares will be issued at HK$87.50 apiece, or a 8.09 percent discount to Wednesday’s close, with proceeds also to be used for investment in re-engineered infrastructure and supply chain systems, for brand building and working capital.

Viva will buy the new shares on completion of the sale of the same amount of existing shares at the same price to third-party investors. Its stake in Li Ning will be diluted to 10.37 percent from 10.87 percent after the deal.

By Donny Kwok; Editor: Christian Schmollinger

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For the first half of the year to June 30, Chinese sportswear giant, Li Ning saw revenue rise 65 percent year-on-year to 10.2 billion yuan ($1.57 billion) and net profit up 187 percent to 1.96 billion yuan ($302.56 million) according to an interim results report released.